Bilateral Pulmonary Embolism in a Newly Diagnosed Case of Pulmonary Tuberculosis

Abstract

Pulmonary embolism in the cases of tuberculosis (TB) infection has incited physicians and researchers to derive a reasonable association in the past few years. However, despite the efforts, pulmonary embolism is often misdiagnosed in the context of active TB. Pulmonary embolism in TB is still considered a rare phenomenon, even though it seems to be a probable risk factor based on the emerging literature. We report a case of a young man who presented with recurrent respiratory symptoms. He had no risk factors except a former history of smoking. We believe that the symptoms he had on the initial visit were misinterpreted in the background of TB infection. We followed the case for two months after he was discharged on anticoagulants and anti-TB medication. In this case report, we would like to emphasize the need to consider this occult phenomenon in order to rule out TB in cases of pulmonary embolism and vice versa. We hope that the management of TB in the future might take into account the chances of concomitant pathology of pulmonary embolism in patients with active TB.

Massive pulmonary embolism led to cardiac arrest two days after thoracoscopy in a young male with pleural tuberculosis

“…However, the PE incident occurred almost 2 weeks after the thoracoscopy. 18 In our case, the patient was doing well with no complaints apart from mild pain at the procedure site. However, 2 days after MT, he developed sudden severe respiratory distress and was found to have massive right-side PE, followed by cardiac arrest and death.…”

“…Similar to our patient, Zahra et al reported a case of bilateral occlusive PE in a patient with active pulmonary TB who was diagnosed with pleural biopsy obtained via VATS. However, the PE incident occurred almost 2 weeks after the thoracoscopy 18 …”